Software piracy has grown into a billion dollar industry worldwide. One solution to this growing problem has been the use of software product activation. Typically, before the software can be executed on a user's computer, a license must first be acquired. The user may electronically send some type of identifier of the user's computer, along with some indicator of how the user desires to use the software, to a centralized licensing authority. The authority responds with a license granting the particular usage requested. The software can then be operated by the user according to the license granted by the authority.
However, there are problems associated with current software activation solutions. First, current software licenses tend to be represented in proprietary formats that vary from company to company. In some more extreme cases, the license formats may vary from product to product within the same company.
Further, for many software applications sold the product definition is not a flat structure, but rather tree like with different versions of the application featuring more or less features branching out under the base application. These versions may share the same source code of the parent application, but may be priced differently and targeted towards different users. Typical licenses are flat and therefore incapable of expressing the complex licensing requirements of these modern product definitions.
Further, as the complexity of the software licenses grow to match the complexity of the product definitions, externally validating a license by a licensing authority can become a difficult process. Sending large digitally signed licenses back and forth between a user and a licensing authority can be very bandwidth intensive. For users with slow internet connections, this can be a very time consuming task.
Therefore, what is needed is a standard license that is capable of representing the complex licensing requirements of modern software applications, while remaining suitable for on-line validation.